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Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Visit to the Balch House, Beverly, Massachusetts

The Balch
House

448 Cabot
Street

Beverly,
Massachusettts

The Balch House was built about 1679 in Beverly,
Massachusetts. John was my 9th
great grandfather, who was part of the Dorchester Company in 1624. The Dorchester Company came to Gloucester,
Massachusetts to fish, but was not successful.
Most of the company returned to England, but a few stayed and went to
Salem. John Balch was granted the land in 1635 with the “Thousand Acre Grant”. He died in Salem in 1648, and his son
Benjamin Balch lived in Beverly (my 8th great grandfather) and
probably built this house.

I descend from Benjamin’s daughter Mary Balch (born about 1667
and died 1737) who married Nathaniel Stone.
This house stayed in Balch family until 1916. It was given to the Beverly Historical Society
in 1932. We met the caretaker Nancy
Peabody Hood, who has lived in the house and given tours for 43 years. She is also a Balch descendant, and will
celebrate her 90th birthday soon.
Meeting Nancy was almost as interesting to me as seeing the Balch House.

I was born and grew up in Beverly. I lived in a house where four generations of my
family lived, about a half mile away on Dearborn Avenue. My grandfather used to walk from home to work
every day to the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, located right behind the
Balch House. Isn't that serendipity?

PS It took me fifty years to see the inside of the Balch House.

Mom signed the Balch House guest book in the keeping room, which is the original part of the house when it was built as a one room cabin with a loft.

Nancy Peabody Hood showed us books for sale about Beverly, the Balch family, and even a large Balch family tree on a long, long scroll (for sale $8 by the Beverly Historical Society). Yes, I bought the family tree chart, and several books, too. There is no better souvenir than a family pedigree!

3 comments:

Heather, thanks for sharing! I descend from Deacon Benjamin Balch through his son Benjamin Balch (1653?-1698) & Elizabeth Woodbury (1654-1698) who had Ruth Balch (1691-1722), married to William Wood (1688-1722) of Ipswich.

I am working on an updated Balch Genealogy with the Beverly Historical Society, extending the genealogy started by Galusha over a hundred years ago. I have over 12,500 Balch descendants in the tree. We are looking to add more cousins to the tree.Please contact me to add your information to the tree. Living people will be listed by name only, to protect their privacy.

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About Me

Author of the Nutfield Genealogy blog. My family research includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with a smattering of Nova Scotia. Please contact me if you see your ancestors on this blog. I would love to share information. I am the recording secretary of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society, President of the Londonderry Historical Society, member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Mass. Society of Genealogists, The National Genealogical Society, and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.